Hookup Culture Essay

Hookup Culture and Women Empowering

Hookup culture is disempowering for women even though some women claim that it empowers them. This is so because the incidences that surround it put women at risk of low self-esteem, depression, alcoholism, and eating disorders.

Some women and feminists may claim that hookup culture is good because it frees them from chains of having relationships. However, most women with hookup experience later regret it because they feel disempowered by the sexual encounters (Armstrong, Laura and Pula 2010).

Why Hookup is more Common Now than Ever

Hookups are more common nowadays than ever because majority of young people do not want to commit themselves to serious relationships. This is because they invest a lot of their time in career development. Therefore, they engage in hookups because they fear contracting STDs and earlier pregnancies.

This is because hookups help them to get sexual pleasures while reducing its physical and emotional risks (Armstrong, Laura and Pula 2010). Nowadays, young people especially college students value friendship more than romance and oral sex than intercourse because of its relative safety.

Young People Hooking-up Causes a Moral Panic

No matter how appealing casual sex may be to some young people, it is unethical and impacts on their lives negatively. Hookups encourage moral decadence e.g. a girl stripping in front of boys. It introduces young people to sex at earlier ages in a casual context. Furthermore, it erodes sexual feelings and sensation which leads to low self-esteem hence a moral panic.

Is Sexual Interaction within Relationships Preferable to Hook-ups?

Sexual interaction in relationships is preferable to hookups. It brings more satisfaction and real physical and emotional pleasure. Women orgasm more often and experience high levels of satisfaction than in hookups.

This happens because sex in relationships employs sexual activities that are conducive for partner orgasm and satisfaction. For instance, research conducted by England’s team revealed that men get more concerned with the orgasm of their girlfriends than hookup partners where as women seem interested in pleasing their boyfriends and hookup partners.

Sexual Double Standard between Men and Women when it comes to Hooking up

Yes. Sexual double standard exists in hookups and it ruins women’s hookup experiences. Men enjoy the privileges of gender superiority or chauvinism when it comes to hookups. For instance, men can lie with as many women as they could and this adds to their prestige and manhood.

On the contrary, a woman who sleeps with many men becomes a “ho” and she is considered unequal with other women. She is disrespected and stigmatized by the fact that women should not practice sex outside relationships. Sexual double standard affects women in hookups. This is the main reason they still tolerate greedy and abusive relationships (Armstrong, Laura and Pula 2010).

Relationship between Hookup Culture and Same-Sex Relationship

Hookup culture relate to same-sex relationship because it involves sexual stimulation between partners of the same-sex. The partners experience sexual pressures that they would feel if they had real sexual intercourse.

Sex in this case does not serve its intended purpose but rather serves as a tool for sexual pleasure without emotional commitment. Furthermore, hookup culture described in this article involves socializing before and after hookup that also exist in same-sex relationships (Armstrong, Laura and Pula 2010).

Work cited

Armstrong, Elizabeth, Hamilton Laura and Pula England. “ Is Hooking-up Bad for Young Women.” Contexts. American Sociological Association. Summer 2010. Web. n.d.